Maurice Sendak, Author and Spike Jonze Muse, Dead at 83

Maurice Sendak in "Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak"

As he reminded us on "The Colbert Report" earlier this year, he was not a "children's book author"; he was an author, period.

It's with great sadness, then, that we report that author and illustrator Maurice Sendak has passed away at 83 (NYT obit). Sendak, who was a storytelling inspiration for generations, especially filmmakers, is best known for his book "Where the Wild Things Are." He is also the author of "In the Night Kitchen" and "Seven Little Monsters."

Sendak had a resurgence of popularity in 2009, when Spike Jonze directed a David Eggers adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are." That same year, Jonze and music video director Lance Bangs directed the featurette "Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak" (screened on HBO, released on DVD by Oscilloscope Laboratories).